Hi Everyone,
I've been a member of this forum for quite some time, and have read it many times, but this is my first post.
I am a Canadian Citizen, my wife is American. We have been married for almost 16 years.
We lived in the USA for 10 years, where I was a Permanent Resident, sponsored by my wife.
We have been in Canada for almost 6 years. My wife has been working under a NAFTA visa, but we decided 2 years ago to start the PM process for her, as her work options under NAFTA are limited, and CIC is increasing the requirements for companies hiring under that programme.
Our PM timeline is as follows:
Application Received by CIC on 3 December 2014 (just before start of the OWP Pilot Programme)
First AOR 6 Feb 2015
2nd AOR received 5 May 2015
We did FBI background check and medical upfront.
With the increasing difficulty in getting NAFTA visas, we submitted an OWP application under the pilot programme on 31 Oct 2015 (received 4 November)
And, the first good news was today. We got the OWP today, was dated 4 Feb.
We try to keep positive during the long wait, but it is hard. Especially seeing Outland and other streams getting approved so much faster.
It never occurred to us that one could even apply Outland! You certainly cannot in the US. And it really never occurred to us that Spousal sponsorship would be the slowest path to PM. It's a crazy situation.